Easiest/Hardest 4000 Footer?

[eddie]

Easiest: Cascade and Porter with slow-motion hikers. I don't remember breathing hard or sweating. Took my avatar picture on this one.

Hardest: Santanoni, Panther and Couchie with a hangover on July 4 after sleeping in the car for only 3 1/2 hours while being chewed alive at night by skeeters then during the day by black flies. Added bonus: got lost going thru Couchie swamp and whacked to the top of the first bump west of the swamp to find the trail - what a *******. The topper: all this after a 23-year hiatus in my quest for the 46. 16 hour r.t.

Willie was my witness

 

[strider]

Easiest - Tecumseh. Up and back in a flash on a beautiful winter day.

Hardest - I would have to say Cannon. I hiked to North Kinsman from the notch, then over to South Kinsman, then to Cannon over those damn Cannon Balls! And it was about 95 degrees and really humid. The rest of my group, none of whom went over to S. Kinsman, bailed at the Lonesome Lake Trail just below Coppermine Col. One guy had to carry out his 50-lb dog, who sat down in the trail and refused to go any further. Really brutal day.

Honorable mention goes to an early-spring hike up Passaconaway. I decided to return via the Walden Trail and spent several hours post-holeing and swimming in uncosolidated powder, and bushwhacking for an hour after losing the un-blazed Oliverian Brook trail. UGH!

 

[lumberzac]

Easiest: Whiteface & Esther. These two just seemed very easy to me the day I hiked up them. Maybe it was because the weekend before I was hiking in the Santanoni Range.

Hardest: Sawteeth up the scenic trail last February. It was a very steep climb up a trail that hadn’t been hiked all winter. Now I know why no one had hiked it.

 

[SilentCal]

Easiest-- Hale. Crisp clear day and we literally were up and back in four hours. Never broke a sweat.

Hardest-- Owl's Head. Stream crossings were brutal and the Lincoln Woods Trail was a muddy mess between the third and fifth crossing. Black Flies were without a doubt the worse I've ever experienced. Slide was very damp and a constant two steps forward one back. Blowdown hell as usual above the slide. I took a nasty fall on the way down and got a nice gash on the back of my calf. Leg was throbbing the whole way back. But I'd return in a heartbeat, It's a perfect hike to just mellow and think. The circumstances though that day did me in.

 

[Jasonst]

Hardest - Washington via Madison with a full pack (yeah, over Adams and Jefferson on the way...) Also Bond from the south.

Easiest - Hale

Hardness is generally defined (in my eyes) as not having prepared physically and mentally for the hike. I know when I attempt Adams from Appalacia, that it's going to be hard and long so I don't expect to see the summit after 2 hrs of climbing. I am sure you all know what I mean...

 

[Pucknuts61]

Easiest - Tecumseh....up and down in just over 3 1/2 hours, and I'm not a fast hiker.

Hardest - Madison in a monsoon...with little hail thrown in to make it more interesting...in August!

 

[coldfeet]

..Marcy was the hardest because it was a long way and my son just kept on going ahead..Slide was the easiest because that's the only other 4K that I ever did! (2 times)

 

[SherpaKroto]

Easiest: Redington in Maine, hungover from Gathering 6.0. We spent more time lounging on the summit than it took us to get there.

Hardest: a lot of candidates, but these come to mind:
Jefferson in a white out (did not summit)
Adams in a white out (ditto)
Madison in high winds (ditto)
The Santanonis really left me drained, but I was really driven and clear mentally on that day. Very satisfying trip.
Hamlin from Russell Pond (overnight) on what I found later to be 2 torn ligaments, a torn tendon, and a metatarsal and tibia stress fractures Yeah, I was slow (like .2 SKU) that trip.

 

[Don]

Easiest, Pierce, Osceola

Hardest, S. Twin, 1st time with a heavy pack. 2nd time no problem, with a day pack.

 

[smitty77]

Easiest: Tecumseh.

Hardest: Tie.

Nine years old, Nineteen Mile Brook to Wildcat A (did not summit) the day after thanksgiving with the flu. The trail from Cater Notch to Wildcat was unbroken with 15" new snow, no snow shoes (didn't think we'd need them). Skipped doing the Carters the next day as planned

Eleven years old, the entire Carter range from Nineteen Mile to Dodge Camp as a dayhile (19 miles or so). Walked up Rt. 16 to the car in the dark.

Good times!

 

[Butch79]

Weather's a factor, mind-set's a factor -- and the decade in which you made the climb is a factor. Last year's blowdown nightmare is this year's garden path, and vice versa. Amazed at how many Adirondack hikers here rate Donaldson-Emmons among the hardest, and Couchsacraga among the easiest. I'd go the opposite way on both -- but then, Emmons may be harder now than when I jogged that ridge-run in '81, and I figure Cookie's a lot more accessible now than the impassable blowdown hell I tangled with a few years later.
Anyway, from only 32 Adirondack peaks, all in summer and fall...

Easiest: start to finish, Phelps from Marcy Dam, Cascade-Porter from 73, Street-Nye in '82 and again in October; from another summit, Donaldson-Emmons.

Hardest: shoot, I've never been in decent physical shape, so they're *all* hard... the scrabble up the Macomb slide in '82 (made it)... Boundary-Algonquin from Flowed lands in a torrential downpour (didn't make it)...
little Tabletop with its maze of herdpaths and horrendous blowdown, a climb up a swamp all the way up in '90 (made it)... Santanoni Range with massive blowdown (didn't make it)... up Saddleback with a full pack (made it, but would've liked to have had suction cups)... Street-Nye in a downpour a couple of years ago (didn't make it, thwarted by Indian Pass Brook running five feet deep and then getting turned around into blowdown by a wonky compass)... Marcy from the south, but only because I'd already climbed it from the north, climbed up and down Skylight, and climbed up and down Grey all that same day (teenage daughter on the climb back over Marcy: "Are you okay? Seriously, are you having a heart attack?").

Happy trails --
Uncle Butch

 

[catskillclimber]

Hello,
My first post here. Interesting question. I have limited experience (mostly the Adirondacks and Catskills) but based on that I would have to say:
Hardest-Mount Marcy from the Garden
Easiest-Cascade

 

[albee]

Hardest NH: Coming down Madison (after doing all Presi's in 1 day)
Easiest NH: probably Tecumseh but I've only done 23 of 48

Hardest VT: Camel's Hump - done with a full pack during LT thru-hike, during a 21.5 mile day. It took forever to get up there and it took forever to get down the other side. Cool views of Marcy and Lake Champlain, though.
Easiest: Jay Peak (even in a swirling monsoon in July!) (note: oops, Jay isn't even 4000'.) I guess Abraham wasn't that bad...

 

[PatnJane]

Owl's head and Tecumseh

New England Hikes (have only done Marcy in NY)

Easiest of the NE 100 highest was Tecumseh in the summer. An orchestra was practicing for a concert at the ski area. We could hear it practicing lovely music as we ascended.

Hardest in winter: Owl's Head, unbroken deep powder on the ascent.

Hardest in summer: Scar Ridge along with Middle Scar Ridge - blow downs, blow downs, blow downs!

 

[Umsaskis]

Hardest: Seymour in winter. 16? miles round trip, in early March. I got snowballs on the bottom of my skis that wouldn't come off, and had to step-ski half way in and the entire way out. Very tiring. And lots of powder on the mountain, which made me lose any vestiges of a herd path about halfway up, so I did some serious tree-grabbing, pull yourself up the ledge bushwhacking. Luckily the snow was soft whenever I slipped back. I didn't eat enough or drink enough - wanted to sit down and sleep for the last 3 miles. A powerbar and some peanuts that I forced down saved me. Then a long drive, got home at 1:00am. I've always had a hard time eating enough on the trail, but I make myself do it now, especially in winter.

Easiest: Camel's Hump, because it's one of the few short 4,000-footers that I didn't combine with another one in the same day. Just a nice hike full of people to pass. The only difficult part was trying to find a spot by myself at the top. Sometimes it's a strange feeling both starting and ending in daylight. Doesn't happen that often!

 

[Pete_Hickey]

Hardest? First of all, I'm leaving out those which were hard due to abnormal weather conditions. IMO, they don't count as being hard.

So, in the Adirondacks, the hardest was probably Skylight from Allen.

Easiest in the Adirondacks was Cascade. In the Whites, I've only done 17, but I think the easiest was either Liberty or Moriah.

 

[masshysteria]

The Easiest? I would have to give that one to Street and Nye, after the approach trail was brushed and flagged. The hardest? In my book, it's a tie between Couchsachraga and Allen. Couch was a pain for me because of the MXC (I mean Bradley Pond) mud trail; the infamous swamp in the Couch col where I don't think it matters whether one goes left, right, or up the middle, you're getting wet. The day I did her, it had rained the night before, so every balsam branch was loaded with water.

Allen is just a long slog on gravel logging roads. That takes a toll on the feet and the senses.

Maybe I'm not fond of these two because I did them on consecutive days.

 

[TDA]

Like many others -Cascade the easiest-but ,it was my first, and therefore, good memories and great views-

I havent done the "traditional "hard hikes[Sewards,Santanonies etc] in the Dacks yet ,so, my hardest to date and the most rewarding was the DIX range-16-18 miles?-5000 + elevation?-this winter.

I have a feeling my hardest hikes are in front of me-for sure-


Maybe PIN-PIN JUNIOR or Harryk could put me on their back and carry me to Allen? [No,I guess that just wouldnt be much fun-for them especially

 

[brianW]

easiest: Cannon via Kinsman Ridge Trail (from ski area)

hardest: Tom, Willey, Field all in the pouring rain. The weather conditions were the hard part not the trail itself.

 

[climb4000footer]

Each perspective is always different!

Hardest: Hale - I was absolutely miserable and I don't even remember why. I think I had put in quite a few miles the day before, had heard how easy this hike was and then when I got there, I didn't want to be hiking, but decided to finish anyways! I think it was incredibly hot that day as well.

Easiest: Tom, Field loop - Probably because of my mood. It was an absolutely gorgeous winter day with views forever! Stayed on the summit awhile and enjoyed the sun! My hiking partner was miserable and I think I enjoyed picking on him about it all day.
On the way down got to glissade down Avalon!